TOW #14 - EPhone 900 Advertisement

Phone: "How to dodge a snakebite." Caption: "Fast Internet access when and where you need it. EPhone 900." Source: funnyneel.com

            In the EPhone 900 advertisement, there is a picture of a green snake that is opening its mouth, ready to strike any second. The humor of the ad comes in once the audience, probably a group of consumers of the new EPhone 900, notices a random phone with the text "How to dodge a snakebite" in the Google search bar. The way the picture of the snake is opening its mouth threateningly makes the audience to panic while the way the hand is casually pressing the Google Search button seem to slow the time down. This unique and indirect juxtaposition, the idea of a snake in the wild being in the same picture with a brand new technology, is the main element of the humor in which the viewers could clearly see that the situation is too crazy to be true. Once the ad captivates its audience with the little gag, it shows a caption that says "Fast Internet access when and where you need it. EPhone 900." All of a sudden, the funny message is clear: EPhone 900 allows the consumers to  have an Internet access so fast that they could look up how to dodge a snakebite even before the snake could strike. The caption that mentions the EPhone 900 is very significant in the advertisement because without it, the audience could easily make a mistake that ad is about Google and how it might save someone from danger by giving quick survival information or something. With that said, I believe that the ad is effective and attention grabbing, but if there are some things that I'm a little discontented about is that for an ad that is solely for a new product, it shows too much of the snake but not enough of the EPhone 900. If the placement of the product and the snake is somehow rearranged, the ad would be much better. 

TOW #13 - The Fault In Our Stars Book Review by X. October

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is about Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV-cancer survivor who meets and falls in love with Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor.

                X. October's book review shows exactly what he thinks of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green to his audience of young readers: not bad but not amazing either. As soon as he starts his review, he establishes credibility by acknowledging that he is a big fan of John Green and is a Nerdfighter* himself, which tells the audience that reviewer that he has a perfectly logical reason behind giving the book three stars out of five. X. October explains carefully that his main problem with John Green's book is that the characters are just not believable, and that the interaction between the main characters, Gus and Hazel, just would not happen between "real, emotional, scared, awkward, virgin teenagers, let alone ones with cancer who have been socially cut off for much of their lives" (X. October 2). The reviewer shows that there are many great elements in the book, but soon admits that the part in the book where a character flirts is "funny and witty and entertaining" but is also "the flirting of an experienced 25 year old" (X. October 2). Another main factor that prevented the reviewer from giving the book perfect five stars was that the main characters all had similar characteristics, same voice, thought pattern and high intelligence level as one person. Namely, John Green. X. October uses repetition at the end of the sentence to emphasize this point: "Hazel is John Green. Augustus is John Green. Hazel's mom and dad are John Green. Isaac is John Green." (X. October 3). The only good part of this is that "the person they are is an interesting person, which is why it's still a good book" but the book is still "just not the OMGOMGBESTBOOKEVER book that the 600+ 5-star reviews imply" (X. October 3). In conclusion, the reviewer believes that overall, The Fault in Our Stars is a great book, but lacks certain elements that can make it better. My Opinion? I believe that I need to read the book myself.

*Nerdfighteria is an internet subculture created by John Green and his brother Hank Green.

TOW #12 - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Review by Susan Wloszcyna

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is the second book/movie in the Hunger Games trilogy. It was released at November 22, 2013, and it has been receiving great ratings and reviews. Source: www.rogerebert.com

                        

Susan Wloszczyna's review on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is directed at all the fans of the ever popular Hunger Games Series that features  a girl named Katniss Everdeen who is forced to play a deadly game of survival with other tributes from each districts. By the way Wloszczyna describes the second movie of the trilogy as something that "makes my inner feminist-leaning 13-year-old stand up and cheer" and gives the movie three stars out of three stars, anyone could guess that her intention of the review is to get more people to see this new popular movie. Throughout her review, Wloszczyna first summarizes her favorite part of the whole movie, when "Katniss...suddenly twirls about in her would-be wedding dress during a TV interview meant to distract the downtrodden populace of Panem" (Wloszczyna 2), but then moves on to symbolisms and deeper analysis  about the plot and characters that makes the plot of the whole story more intriguing. Wloszczyna discusses about the elements that makes the movie effective such as the plot, great actors with great talents, connection to the real world, Spectacular director and Oscar-winning writers, but she also shows how  the movie is criticized "from the same 'something old, something borrowed' disease that is the enemy of originality in too many Hollywood efforts of the late" (Wloszczyna 9). Apparently, there are many references in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire such as "Lost" and "Survivor", Star Wars, "The Running Man", and Roman and Greek mythologies, but Wloszczyna argues that there is one truly original invention, and that is Katniss, "the perfect antidote to the surplus of male superheroes out there" (Wloszczyna 11). To make sure that her review is not just a boring statement of facts, Wloszczyna uses allusions to other films and real life ideas, vivid dictions, and specific details to make a humorous yet very informing piece of writing. I believe that the author definitely persuaded me to go and watch The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.